Volcanoes: Top 10 facts on the Roman feast day of Vulcan the god of fire

1. Appropriately enough, August 23 was the day the great eruption of Vesuvius began in AD79.

2. The Romans celebrated Vulcanalia with bonfires into which live fish or small animals were tossed as a sacrifice to Vulcan.

3. Most of Earth’s surface had a volcanic origin and there are still more than 1,500 active volcanoes in the world.

4. Volcanoes are most often found where Earth’s tectonic plates meet, leaving gaps through which gas, magma and ash can flow to the surface.

5. Magma is the hot, liquid rock inside a volcano which emerges during an eruption as lava.

6. The eruption of Krakatau in Indonesia in 1883 is thought to have produced the loudest sound ever heard by humans.

7. The Icelandic volcanic island of Surtsey emerged after an undersea eruption in 1963. It is named after a mythological Norse fire giant, Surt.

8. The collapsed top of a volcano is called a caldera from the Spanish for kettle.

9. In the Middle Ages many believed that volcanoes were entrances to the Underworld.

10. Lava can flow at more than 60mph. 


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